Tur-nocket

Much to no ones surprise the annual running of the Millinocket Half and Full marathon was canceled due to covid and participants were encouraged to run their distance at home. This is the free marathon where you are expected to spend your typical race entry fee by making donations to the local charities, 2nd hand store, or food pantry. You also go for the weekend, if you can, and spend your money at the local restaurants, bars, and hotels/air BNB’s. It is a great race that I love for its community feeling, fun energy, and all the crazy pop-up aid stations. I wrote about it last year too and I am sure there will be another appearance in 2021, my hotel room is already booked for December 3rd to the 5th, 2021.

This years Millinocket would be up to the individual to run at home and I decided that running it locally with some of my friends in a social distancing way would be ok. I made all my donations online, bought some stuff from the local store to be shipped, and decided that running at Androscoggin Riverlands State Park in Turner, Maine would be fitting. It has a wide hard packed gravel road, starts up hill, and offers rolling hills. All features that replicate Millinocket’s course well. Best yet it wasn’t on pavement and away from traffic. With all that in mind Tur-nocket was born and I sent out invites to my friends.

Now I just need to decide a running route. Riverlands has plenty to offer as far as single tracks are concerned, but it wouldn’t replicate the Golden Road. I nixed the idea of single tracks fairly early on. Another option would be to run the gravel road the full distance and back which would get you around 18 miles, but then the aid stations would be limited or no existent or at the very least too far apart and difficult to set up. The aid stations are an important feature, if you are trying to represent Millinocket. These pop up aid stations are throughout the course, I think I counted ten of them along the route last year that you do twice for the full marathon. 20 Aid Stations is an impressive number for a marathon and because they are set up by locals and not coordinated by any formal party or legal entity associated with the race, most of them are a little heavy on the alcohol side, particularly Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey. Booze aside, because I usually only partake in a few shots here and there, some of my favorites are: the cookie lady on what is dubbed as “cookie hill” who has a plethora of homemade cookies to choice from but I have learned grab one on your first lap, as by time you roll around to your second they are gone, the family who offers homemade vegetarian and non-vegetarian soup at the corner just as you turn off the gravel road onto the pavement portion (this family really is nice, the first year I ran it they only had non-vegetarian, but the following year and every year since they added in the vegetarian option!), the group of people who dress up as Christmas Elves every year and set up a mulled cider station (which you can of course add Fireball to if you wish), and of course you cannot discount the awesome energy of all the aid stations with their fires in 50 gallon drums basically having a party that you get to join briefly every few miles.

Knowing how paramount the aid stations are I couldn’t envision running Turnocket without at least the best representation of a Millinocket aid station I could do, which ultimately played the biggest role in deciding the route. We would just run up the gravel road 2.185 miles, with a cone set by the first runner there and since everyone’s watches are always a little different we would all go by that first persons watch and turn back at the cone returning to the start for a 4.37 miles per lap. Marathoners would run that six times and half marathoners three, to get the respective distances. This allowed me a single point every lap to set up an aid station and that is exactly what I did. I played some music on a Bluetooth speaker, set up a canopy, and gathered lots of different options and tried to represent my favorite aid stations the best I could and of course we had some Fireball tucked away for a shot or two. The only things that would be missing would be the fun energy of the locals and the fire pits.

Beyond the aid station I offered a couple other fun incentives to draw folks out to the course on race day. I offered up a wooden first place medallion that I had won at the Millinocket day after 2 mile recovery race a couple years prior to the first person to beat me in the Turnocket’s marathon. The only caveat would be that next year they run a race, preferably next years Millinocket, and challenge someone (s) to win the medallion from them. I also offered the participants a can of the Sea to Summit lager, the official beer crafted to represent the Millinocket race along with its sister race, MDI.

When 9 AM Saturday, December 5th rolled around Turnocket was ready to go. There was a concern with the weather and a big 8″-10″ snow storm predication, but to keep the spirit of Millinocket alive we decided to run it regardless because Millinocket never cancels due to weather and nor would we. The snow was slated to start in the mid-afternoon with rain showers all morning. I ended up with a group 9 other dedicated runners with three of us planning on doing the full marathon and seven planning on the half.

I arrived early to set up the aid station and canopy and was ready to go when runners started to arrive at 8 AM. Two of the runners concerned with the weather wanted to get an earlier start. One of them, Janel, was planning on doing the full and the other Rachael would only plan on a half. They came prepared with more food and spirits to add to our already overflowing aid station and soon I had them off to the sounds of ACDC’s Thunderstruck with an orange cone in hand to be placed at 2.185 miles. On a side note, they did a wonderful job placing the cone, particularly since I forgot to tell them to stick to the right at the sand pit and go through a gate and not hang a left that goes to the river. I admitting made it sound like you couldn’t go wrong on this road, forgetting about this area. They wouldn’t be the only ones of the day to make the error, as two others not familiar with the park made the same mistake. Luckily all four quickly figured it out and hats off to Janel and Rach for adjusting their error distance and still nailing the orange cone placement.

Another participant, Karen would arrive soon after and also want to get an early start on her half, because she was figuring it would take her 3 hours. Reset the music, explain the orange cone turn point, and Karen was off the start line. Karen was familiar with the park and would have no issues sticking to the correct road.

Not long after Karen’s start the remaining six runners started to arrive. We gathered around the aid station area, had some laughs, I gave the spiel on the winners medal, participant brew, and turn around spot, played Thunderstruck one last time and the seven of us were off just after 9 AM finally getting all ten runners onto the course.

It didn’t take long for the reality to sink in that this was going to be one very wet and muddy run. In true Millinocket style the weather was not in our favor. However, I was over dressed for the starting temp with my under armor base, long tech, and wind/rain jacket, I was roasting. Definitely a difference in what is needed for clothing just standing around and actually running. I know this, but got distracted setting everything up and didn’t think much of it.

Gordon and I were leading the charge to catch up to the other three runners on the course. I was surprised that within the first mile we ran into Janel and Rach, they were cruising! It took Gordon less then the first two miles to set his position that he wanted to steal my medal and that if I wanted to keep it then I had better plan on working for it. To his favor, I didn’t really care that much and had already had a full week of running. Normally, I would do a typer and not really run the week leading up to a race. I wouldn’t have run prior if this was the normal Millinocket, but I treated more like another training run with a fun aid station.

I tried to stick to what I had said at the end of last years Millinocket that I would do, and just have fun. That is what I set out to do and that is what I did. I kept to my pace to a nice controlled cadence, stopped to chat briefly with the other participants as we crossed paths, took a longer stop at the end of the first loop to remove the base layer (ahh, much better) while also enjoying some mulled cider and cookies, and really kept the smile despite the continuation of the rain that was slowly turning into snow.

The turnover to snow was starting earlier then expected by about 3 hours. I was concerned with everyone driving home safely. It was about a 1/2 mile from my 2nd aid station stop that I crossed paths with Gordon again as he was heading out for his 3rd lap that I mentioned that maybe today was a good day to run a 1/2 marathon. There were only the two of us and Janel planning on running the full. Gordon agreed that it was likely the smart thing to do, and he would check in with Janel on his way out. Janel and Rach were within reach of passing for both of us at this point. I did a quick aid station stop this time, stuffed a piece of banana bread in my mouth, downed some beverages and took off for what would end up being my final lap.

About a 1/2 mile from the final turn point Gordon had already passed Janel and he communicated that everyone was in agreement, we would all run a 1/2 and he would do a partial final lap sweep to pick up Karen who would be the final finisher once he completed his 3rd. All sounded good. I caught up to Janel and Rach with about 2 miles left to run, they were walking up a hill ” so that I had time catch them”….sure ladies, sure. We chatted for a bit, all glad to be calling it early and I took off to finish my race. I passed Tammi and Billy with a quick”hi, woohoo” as they were well into their 3rd lap and I connected with Karen about a mile into her 3rd lap. I saw Gordon on the course one last time, as he set out to catch Karen to give her company for the end, who informed me the trio of Dana, Brent, and Eli had decided to stop at two laps as Dana had gotten extremely cold.

I cruised to my finish feeling good and positive about today’s experience and even had my own little cheer squad from the trio. I stopped my watch at the designated cone and looked down, surprised to see that I was only 3 minutes shy of my 1/2 distance time at last years Millinocket. Given that this course had more elevation, it was raining and mud slick in a lot of areas, the time I had taken at the first aid stop, and all the times I stopped to say hi and chat with my follow runners, that is awesome! I also felt 100% better then I did at last years 1/2 way marker and feel that I could’ve kept going at the pace I had set. Today wasn’t the day to push things though and I was glad to stop and enjoy some beverages and food with the trio as we waited for the others to finish.

It wasn’t long before the remaining finishers of Janel, Rach, Tammi, Billy and Karen made there way back with sweeper Gordon and turn-around-cone in tow. We enjoyed some more snacks and I presented Gordon with his finishers medal. Despite having called it short, I felt Gordon had done an excellent job beating me to the finish line. I would have loved to see how a full marathon would’ve played out for us, but I have challenged him to come to Millinocket next year and let me earn that medal back from him. He wished me luck in doing that, confident in his ability to keep it.

Hopefully, there is a Millinocket next year and that this will the the one and only running of Turnocket. If it is required again, based on feed back then I will need to figure out a fire pit and will have to have a designated aid station person to keep an eye on it. Hard to have a fire when everyone is running. And of course, I will have to run the full distance and put Gordon in his place. It will be sweet when he has to place that medal back around my neck.